Chapter 8: Magical mastery

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As Ariana sat down back in her seat, Kaya had already flung herself around her girlfriend's neck.

"I'm so proud of you, baby," she yelled right before putting a big kiss on her cheek.

Ariana giggled and seemed to have simmered down again a bit from the louder, more confident person she was down in the arena.

"I really wouldn't have thought you copied our magic," Olivia shared aloud as she tried to join with the girls. "How do you control so many types of magic?"

"Well," Ariana laughed, "it's a bit complicated. I can't use more than one type of magic at the same time. And I think you already saw I can't properly control stronger types of magic if I don't know how they fully work. Even so Steven's lightning is far beyond anything I have seen."

The three girls were now staring down the lightning mage, who seemed to have notably been looking away. Olivia speculated he didn't wanna have this talk. Though with a sigh, he spoke up.

"My mother's lightning magic was very notorious for a reason, even when she sparingly used it in public. And that's without my father's magic as a dyad combination. In theory it sounds awesome to have that kind of power but in practice... I am afraid of it."

Steven's words rung true. His voice was a bit shaky, and Olivia knew how hard he trained in the past few months. He got a lot stronger. Before, there were times where Steven seemed to lose control, and he would create burn marks on the floor around him. But it's been a long while since Olivia saw anything like that.

"I think," Steven went on, "that your powers are far more interesting, though. Even with the limitations it wouldn't surprise me if, in base abilities, you rank as one of the strongest mages in the world."

Ariana had a smile on her face. But something about her eyes gave Olivia the idea she was sad.

"I've been told that before. But I'm not so sure about that. I'm competing in this tournament because I want to show my potential, yeah... But I feel like in a real battle I would fall short."

Steven and Ariana's eyes locked for a long moment. Then, Steven nodded softly and turned back to the arena in front of them.

"You're not very good at talking to people, are you, Steven," Ariana teased a bit.

"He can be," Olivia shot up for defence. "He can be very good at words of comfort. He's just not that good with larger groups of people."

Kaya grinned. "Speaking from experience?"

Olivia rubbed her legs together. Why did she get nervous? "Maybe a little bit. I dunno, just a feeling."

"I'm still here," Steven added, though the girls ignored him.

By this point, two new participants had already moved up into the arena, taking place on the red circles. One was Ruhnim. Ruhnim Ragni Wilkers, to be specific. From what Olivia had seen of the buff man so far, he seemed to be a pleasant person. The other was someone from the Fynlone mage squad as the cape would suggest. The young man with black hair, who's name seemed to be Marcus Limelight according to the board.

"Are you ready for our scuffle," Ruhnim asked joyfully with a big, wonderful smile on his face. In return, annoyed green eyes flickered out from under Marcus' hood.

"Even when I'm a new recruit, don't underestimate the Fynlone mage squad."

"Oh, not at all," Ruhnim replied, not a single ounce of kindness less than before. "I am expecting a wonderful fight from you! That's why I want to make sure you're ready to show me something exceptional! You're not a plant or nature mage by chance, are you?"

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